Heavily used cars, a thriving business in the US

I think few of us have escaped the crisis, and there are many others who have not escaped it either and who are directly linked to the car market. While things are going badly in Spain, sales in the US are no better, despite some positive figures in October. And now that some dealers are putting their ingenuity to the test, the latest craze is to sell cars that are much older than usual.

What they call “basic mobility”, cars made before 2000, vehicles that in other times would have been headed for the scrapyard in that country, are now the object of desire for many people in the US, who still haven’t pulled their heads out of the crisis.

The major used-car dealers in the US, AutoNation, Lithia, Asbury, Sonic and Penske, have increased sales of this type of vehicle to such an extent that they now devote much of their available resources to selling these cars, with an average value of around $4,000–5,000.

And if you thought the streets of the US were full of brand-new or very recent big cars, not everything that glitters is gold. The inventory of some of the dealers mentioned above has more than 40% of cars that are “a bit more than used.” But contrary to forecasts, they have started selling more than ever before this year, proving that sometimes a good used car is better than a new one you can’t afford.

Source | Automotive News